Capitalization rules vs all lowercase texting

[whatsinaname]

Soooo, it turns out this is a thing? That people feel capitalization denotes a more formal/aloof tone..?



This is like when I learnt about that doorbell vs text thing all over again.

 

[shnurgleton]

ALL CAPS IS A REAL PANTY DROPPER

 

[TripleBee]

all lower case but bold

 

[Chikor]

I feel like capitalization is a style choice that matter very little (if at all) in informal settings.
I honestly have no strong opinion on this, outside that getting worked out over this seem silly, and I generally go with what the autocomplete offer me

 

[Transistor]

wHAT ABOUT INVERSE CAPITALIZATION? hOW DO PEOPLE VIEW THAT?

 

[Deleted member 33057]

Weird Capitalization of Every Almost Word

 

[shaneo632]

I saw a thing about this recently, a lot of younger people prefer lowercase as it seems more casual, conversational, and some apparently think capitalisation is more "aggressive" or stern.

I dunno, I always roll my eyes when I see people shitposting in full lowercase on twitter or letterboxd. It feels so self-conscious but I guess it might be a generation divide, or the fact people are using phones while I use desktop to do like 90% of my writing.

*old man yells at cloud*

Ultimately I don't care but my mind is so hard-wired to capitalise at this point that lowercase actually feels like more mental effort.

 

[julia crawford]

i always text in lowercase except when the auto correct adds capitalization

 

[HotStunt]

I have the muscle memory for correct capitalization. Writing all lower-case would weirdly take more effort to give the appearance of low effort.

 

[Transistor]

In all seriousness, I pretty much always use punctuation and capitalization (as well as italics for emphasis). Except when I handwrite things. Then I use small caps.

 

[Lobster Roll]

Paging My Blue Heaven

 

[VorpalNonsense]

I am inconsistent in both capitalization and punctuation, every message is different

 

[i_am_ben]

Truly we are living in late stage capitalization.

 

[djplaeskool]

ALWAYS BOLD
ALWAYS UPPERCASE

 

[collige]

it's an aesthetic

also i feel that a lot of it comes from the conveniences of typing on a laptop vs a phone keyboard

 

[Walter White Walker]

I capitalize as appropriate when texting.

 

[Aleh]

On mobile most people have auto capitalization, on PC I just type in lower case.

 

[Garrett 2U]

ONE WORD ALL LOWERCASE fourwordsalluppercase

 

[TheRed]

I can't not use proper capitalization. It's not hard to do but I don't really judge anyone who doesn't, as long as you can spell things correctly I'm good.
The only thing I can do is drop the period from my texts like one sentence texts.

 

[HStallion]

Who types out entire thoughts these days? What are we cavemen? I just reply in gif form. The truly erudite form of communication.

 

[Deleted member 2809]

I just don't use punctuation much when texting but mosty capitalize I guess?

 

[Shiloh]

All lower case does give off a certain vibe of person. One I usually wouldn't get along with.

 

[collige]

I saw a thing about this recently, a lot of younger people prefer lowercase as it seems more casual, conversational, and some apparently think capitalisation is more "aggressive" or stern.

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I wouldn't really call myself "young" at 29, but I definitely agree with this. It's basically text code switching

 

[rpm]

Using proper capitalization vs all lower case is a deliberate choice based on audience, tone, and mood

Like 5% of my Era posts are all lower case, while probably about 90% of my Discord messages are

 

[medinaria]

as an almost-full lowercase person myself, it's genuinely because someone once told me "proper" capitalization and punctuation made me seem like an asshole

to be fair, I was an asshole

but I'm sure it didn't help

 

[HeyNay]

it's an aesthetic

also i feel that a lot of it comes from the conveniences of typing on a laptop vs a phone keyboard

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nah, it's not that. it shows a certain lack of caring, which is attractive. Except for the dishes. always do the dishes.

 

[mute]

Caps is too much effort

 

[Brinbe]

time and place. am i bothering to capitalize on era? no

talking/texting ppl? depends on who they are, but still mostly no.

you get the meaning, that's all that matters. caps or no caps

 

[I am a Bird]

wHAT ABOUT INVERSE CAPITALIZATION? hOW DO PEOPLE VIEW THAT?

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Sounds like something the romans would accuse Barbarians of doing.

 

[ZeroDotFlow]

capitalization is only when you're looking to be professional or make an argument/debate since it shows you're more serious about it.

otherwise? casual conversations or what have you? lower case.

 

[Humidex]

If YoU'rE gOnNa OpInE, dO iT rIgHt.

 

[PinkSpider]

I wasn't even great at English or writing in school but my fingers naturally gravitate towards shift and general punctuation when typing on a keypad (I'd say or writing but damn I never do that anymore).

 

[thecouncil]

whatever my phone decides to do as i type.

 

[Morrigan]

wHAT ABOUT INVERSE CAPITALIZATION? hOW DO PEOPLE VIEW THAT?

Click to shrink...

"We sHoUlD ToTaLlY UsE InVeRsE CaPiTaLiZaTiOn", hE SaId

 

[mclem]

WeShouldAllCompromiseOnCamelCase,ThinkOfAllTheSpaceThatCanBeSaved.

 

[Mivey]

I HAVE TO SAY THAT THIS IS A FAIRLY COMPLEX TOPIC. OF COURSE ON ONE HAND WE USE CAPITALISATION TO PROPERLY STRUCTURE SENTENCES, IT ALLOWS US TO TELL WHICH WORDS ARE NOUNS, PERSONAL NAMES - THE TOPICS OF THE SENTENCE - AND WHICH ARE MORE SYNTAX. SO TO JUST GET RID OF THAT WILL NATURALLY MAKE THINGS A BIT HARDER TO READ AND UNDERSTAND. ON THE OTHER HAND, IT IS ALSO UNDENIABLE THAT IT IS EASIER TO WRITE LOWERCASE, ESPECIALLY ON A HANDHELD DEVICE.
ULTIMATELY I FEEL THIS COMES DOWN TO PERSONAL PREFERENCE, IT SEEMS STRANGE TO EXPECT OTHER PEOPLE TO CHANGE THEIR PERSONAL TYPING PREFERENCE JUST TO SUIT YOUR TASTES, AFTER ALL IT'S NOT AS IF THE USE OF PROPER CAPITALISATION, OR THE THE LACK OF IT, MAKES A MAJOR DIFFERENCE WHEN USING A MESSAGING APP, WHERE FORMAL WRITING IS CERTAINLY NOT THE NORM AND PEOPLE MIX AND MATCH WHATEVER STYLE THEY LIKE.
IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE IF CONSISTENT USE OF ONE STYLE OVER THE OTHER WOULD GIVE ONE CERTAIN ADVANTAGES IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS, SAY DATING APPS. THIS SEEMS LIKE SOMETHING WORTH STUDYING AND TESTING IN SOCIAL SCIENCE.

 

[collige]

I honestly can't tell which direction the panties are supposed to be going here. Seems like it can go either way really

 

[Van Bur3n]

This is why I hate texting.

 

[Zutrax]

I just... do what is proper grammatically and don't even think about it. Do people seriously give a shit? I just do what I was fucking taught in grade school.

 

[N64Controller]

I also hate people who overuse exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously though, some people can't spell because they're almost illiterate, some people can't see letters correctly. Sometimes I just don't use capitalization in texting because I'm a slow texter and idgaf. It's just silly to complain about something like this. Not using capitalization in texting doesn't mean you can't write. This is silly.

So many people trying to make themselves feel better and important by correcting everyone for every single grammar mistakes, every syntax errors. It's texting.

 

[Morrigan]

WeShouldAllCompromiseOnCamelCase,ThinkOfAllTheSpaceThatCanBeSaved.

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i_am_not_a_fan_of_this

 

[Gunny T Highway]

eItHeR CaPitALizE oR Don'T. It dOeS nOt MaTtEr To Me.

 

[Van Bur3n]

I also hate people who overuse exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Indeed. It is indicative to me that they're dumb dumbs.

 

[OwensboroEsq]

Capitalization is important. It's the difference between "I helped my Uncle Jack off a horse." and...well... you get the idea.

 

[Blackthorn]

Purely anecdotal but everyone I've known who deliberately types in lowercase for aesthetic reasons (not because it's casual texting) has been a pretentious arse.

 

[HStallion]

Going by his prose Cormack McCarthy must be really into casual sex.

 

[IMCaprica]

wHAT ABOUT INVERSE CAPITALIZATION? hOW DO PEOPLE VIEW THAT?

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No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.

In all seriousness, I pretty much always use punctuation and capitalization (as well as italics for emphasis). Except when I handwrite things. Then I use small caps.

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I agree with all this though. The best way.

 

[Serpens007]

Capitalization Rules v/s All Lowercase Texting

- Introdcution -

 

[TigerBrownie]

Maybe I am starting to get out of touch (mid 20s), because writing everything in lowercase just comes across as sloppy and stupid to me. I didn't realize many people did this unironically until now.

 

[mclem]

As a serious answer, I'll normally write correctly, but sometimes I'll use caps for emphasis - and sometimes, and this is something people don't seem to do all that often, I'll use lowercase for emphasis as well - to indicate that something is being said sotto voce, I guess.